


My Mark and Yours

by starlightsmusings



Series: prucan week 2016 [2]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/F, Nyotalia, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-17 14:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8147104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightsmusings/pseuds/starlightsmusings
Summary: Not everyone was born with a soul mark. In fact, most people weren't. Maddie wouldn't have minded hers as much if it wasn't in such an obvious spot.-Written for the Fate/Soul Mate prompt of PruCan Week





	

Having a soul mark had never bothered her. **  
**

Scratch that, the idea of having a soul mark never bothered Madeleine. It meant that, at the very minimum, there was someone out there who was made for her. Some would coo over how romantic it was, and others couldn’t wait until they found someone they could completely confide in. Really, she counted herself lucky to be among the small percent of the population who had.

Well, she would, if it wasn’t for the large bold pattern on her neck.

It wasn’t as bad when she was small--most people thought it was cute, or if they were far enough away, thought it was a large birthmark. It was a little worse in grade school, but Maddie always shrugged it off as she was one of the 3 in her class with a soul mark, and the only one with it easily visible.

She grew her hair out at first, hoping it would help cut down on the teasing from other students about how she must think she’s so much better than them for having a soul mark. Then came the scarves, and occasionally the turtlenecks and sweaters when the teasing switched from her _having_ a soul mark, to her _still having_ a soul mark. High school had been kind to the few who had marks, letting them change from either black or white, to a color that was only a few shades different from their skin, once they met their other half.

And yet Maddie’s still remained a bold black against her pale neck.

So, she delved into her studies and, surprising many, hockey, which eventually led her to get a pretty decent scholarship at a college far enough away from her hometown.

* * *

 

A whistle sounded, marking the beginning of the first official match of the season against a local school. Maddie moved on instinct, following the puck and trying to dodge other players whenever possible. It wasn’t an easy task, she realized after being slammed into the wall once again, as the other team had significantly improved since their previous match.

Gathering all of her annoyances from the week and turning it into fuel, she pushed herself harder, ignoring whatever bruises she could feel forming on her skin,and even ignoring the strange warm sensation on the side of her neck.

* * *

 

Maddie grimaced as she sat down on the sidelines, trying to avoid the large crowd that had formed, after their barely successful first game. She knew she would never hear the end of it from her teammates if she left right away, and while a warm bath sounded like heaven to her sore limbs, dealing with whatever her teammates dealt to her probably wouldn’t be worth it.

There were times that she wanted to be apart of the crowd, but most of her teammates were surrounded by their family members that could make it, different friends, and even a small handful had whomever they were dating there. But, her family was at least a few states away, and the same for most of her friends.  And as for someone she was dating…..

Her hand instinctively went to where her mark was. She had tried getting into the dating scene before, but once people saw her mark, most hadn’t bothered to keep in touch.

 _That’s weird_ , she thought as her fingers moved over her neck. She could normally feel small rise on her skin where her mark was, but she couldn’t feel anything.

Maddie glanced around quickly, and was glad to see that most of her teammates had made their way out of the arena, meaning she could finally escape into her dorm room.

* * *

 

She wanted to scream.

Actually, she probably did scream. She wasn’t quite certain. The only thing she was positive about was that the large mark that had covered her neck for the past 19 years had faded so it was barely visible against her skin.

Maddie’s hands were shaking as she tried scrolling through her phone, attempting to think about who she should talk to. She could call her parents, but they might only offer awkward congratulations before asking about her day. Her sister would squeal and probably demand that she be told everything (which, at least, would make for a short conversation). Her cousin would gush about how romantic it was, and would keep going on and on until Maddie ‘accidentally’ hung up. The few friends she kept in touch with didn’t have marks either, so they would be about as helpful as her family members.

She glanced at the pile of turtlenecks and scarves that had piled on her chair, practically forgotten since she got to college. Maybe she would start wearing them again just to avoid the questions she was bound to get.

* * *

 

The weather seemed to be on her side over the next few days, as it was consistently cool enough for people to wear sweaters and scarves and not look out of place. Sure, plenty of people were still wearing shorts and tank tops, but those were the same people who would be wearing the same thing when there was a foot of snow on the ground.

Maddie had made herself comfortable on one of the recliners in the common room that was right outside of the library. On the table beside her, she had put down her coffee (that was slowly getting cold). She had long since kicked off her shoes, and her laptop was balancing on her lap. It had been empty enough for her to even snag her favorite recliner that was in the corner of the room--right next to an outlet. Perfect for the research she was attempting to do.

She sighed as, once again, another article about soul marks repeated the same things she had always heard.

  1. Only some people were born with soul marks. It seemed to be completely random because there were plenty of cases when both parents had one, but the kids did not, or the kids did, but the parents didn’t. Likewise, it wasn’t uncommon for only one person out of the entire family to have one.
  2. The marks supposedly symbolized something. Or rather, they all said something, but some were in patterns while others were just words. No one had determined why certain words were what appeared on people’s skin yet.
  3. The marks also didn’t always represent a romantic soul mate. Many people had platonic soul mates. A small percentage also had multiple soul marks.
  4. The marks would only fade when your ‘other half’ (as most articles put it) said something specifically about you for the first time, and most reported a warm feeling when it did fade.



A few mentioned some smaller details, but none seemed to help Maddie in her current situation. She had known all of that since grade school when her parents decided it would be the perfect time to talk about the large mark on her neck.

The door to the common room swung open with a little too much force as a girl with too many books in her arms made her way inside. Her long silver hair seemed to be floating behind her as she walked to the first couch that she decided would work for whatever project or test she was going to be working on.

Maddie noticed as the girl fussed around with her books, undoubtedly attempting to make some form of order to them, that, on one of her pale arms, was a very intricate and soft design. From what she could tell from where she sat, it went up the entirety of her arm, in almost a weaving vine pattern. It was the kind of pattern that the more you looked, the more details you would find.

“Wow, stunning.” She wasn’t positive if she was talking about the design or the girl.

But within seconds, the design had faded, which caused the pale girl to look in confusion, which turned into shock, at her arm and then around the room until her scarlet eyes met Maddie’s lavender eyes.

“You!” It wasn’t quite a yell, but it still made Maddie jump as the girl made her way over. “It has to be you!”

It took a moment, but Maddie realized what the girl meant. There were only five people in total in the common room, and since the other three were absorbed in their work (with one of them possibly being asleep), that meant there was only one person who could have been the reason as to why the mark disappeared.

“You were playing hockey the other day, weren’t you?”

She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat and nodded. “My name’s Madeleine, most people call me Maddie.”

* * *

 

Years later, as they were laying on their shared bed in their tiny apartment, Maddie would be tracing the faded pattern that had first caught her attention, still finding new words hidden in the small swirls.

Gillian would chuckle as Maddie would squint and try and say whatever she thought the word was. (It never helped that some of the words were in English, while others were in French).

The blonde would pout before muttering something in a mix of the two languages and going back to what to what she was doing.

It would be much later, after much prodding, before Gillian would blushingly admit that the design on Maddie’s neck, if looked at from a specific angle, spelled out the one word she would normally only use for herself.


End file.
